Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Christmas market

Christmas market no 1 - mulled wine stall
10" x 12"

I loved the lights, colour and busyness of the Lincoln Christmas market that I visited a couple of weeks ago. I did find a place to set up and paint but it was away from where I wanted to be and I got very cold! After a couple of hours of painting followed by a warm up in a cafe I decided to walk around taking photos on my phone if anything caught my eye. It was very busy by then and day was turning into dusk which was the very best time for me. I find it magical when the artificial lights start to take over from the light from the sky.

Since that day I've been developing the theme in the studio, and trying some new approaches. In many ways this is easier to do in the studio than en plein air, when it's best to get the job done as quickly as you can (especially in this weather!).

With this one I really wanted to keep the drawing quite fluid, so I started with painting large shapes and masses rather than a linear or drawn approach. If you imagine screwing your eyes up so that you can only see a blurred vision of the subject, that's how I began.

I carried on with large shapes and then assessed which places needed more definition and which didn't.

I wanted to describe a little more the two central figures and the lights and decoration of the stall, but to leave the background group of figures as loose marks and large shapes. I think it's best this way as the figures look as though they are moving and populate the scene without dominating it.

You can probably tell I really enjoyed the whole process, I think it shows in the juicy paintwork!

What a light, it''s almost like the stal in on fire, love it!!If you didn''t tell it was done in your studio I would thought it was plein air. Love the last detail as well does make me think of isaac israel, a Dutch artist mid 1900.

About Me

My work is a celebration of sea, wind, sky, light and life revealed in rich and vibrant oil paint using my personal
visual language of fresh and direct brushmarks. Painting en plein air is central to my practice, and I travel to seek
new experiences and fresh inspiration to feed back into my studio work. I strive for simplicity and economy and to
make every mark count.